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He said: “It’s sad that it is closed. It should be open, even if it’s only manned by volunteers.

“People want to feel that security blanket around them. We need this relationship between us and the police.

"If people could have more interactions with police on a quiet one-to-one basis then we might have less problems.

“People are frightened of emailing or ringing up because they think it could be traced back to them. Once we’ve lost the interaction between the public and police we’ve lost everything.”

Residents are being advised to travel to the nearest public enquiry desks in Accrington, Blackburn or Clitheroe.

Notice displayed at Great Harwood police station stating the public enquiry desk is closed due to staff shortages.

Police Commissioner Clive Grunshaw explained: “I understand that a combination of staff sickness and annual leave led to a staff shortage that meant the front desk was left temporarily unstaffed this week.

“I have been assured that this is purely temporary and the front desk will be open on Tuesday and Thursday this week and will be open on its usual hours next week.

"This has in no way affected policing of the area and only means that people calling at the police station have had to check in via a telephone rather than via the front desk.”

In March we revealed that the station’s front counter could be at risk of permanent closure as part of planned £18m in cuts by 2020.